Espresso Shots
by lydiarogue
Summary: A collection of drabbles, short stories and ficlets about team CFVY. See beginning notes for pairings in each chapter.
1. An Atlas' Ball

**AN:** Prequel to A Fresh Cup of Coffee.

* * *

"So I have a question for you," Fox asked Coco as they said their final goodbyes to their classmates and made their way to her car.

"Hm?"

"Why are you coming home with me? Not that I'm really complaining, mind you. I'm glad I have a ride back, but I kinda figured I'd be taking a cab."

She unlocked the doors and climbed into the driver's seat. "Who else would I be going home with?" She knew what he was thinking, but she also wanted to hear him say it.

"I know you had at least three people proposition you back there." Fox made a vague gesture towards the venue as they pulled out of the parking lot.

Coco made a disgusted noise. "And I'd slept with them all already - nothing worth an encore performance." She didn't voice the other half of the thought - that she didn't really want to sleep with someone who _wasn't_ Fox Alistair anymore. He'd already turned her down, so there was no point. "Not like I was going to leave you behind anyway - or make you take a cab."

"What if I said you could have fun _and_ not leave me behind?"

She jerked in surprise, cursing under her breath as she nearly swerved into the other lane. "Fox! I don't want to sleep with you!" she protested.

"Not what you said last month," he teased.

She sputtered, but didn't deny it, cheeks flushing. "I'm not _going_ to sleep with you!" she clarified. There was no use pretending she didn't want to. Shaking her head, she merged onto the main thoroughfare that would take them back home and changed the subject. "So what were you planning?"

"Take us out to the north edge of town instead of going home. By that old abandoned logging road."

"Roger that," she said, taking an abrupt left turn to get them headed in the right direction. "Going to tell me what the game plan is? I'm not dressed for much."

Fox laughed at that. "Your outfit was meticulously planned and picked out to be both practical and fashionable. You may be wearing a long dress, but the top half fits you like a second skin and the bottom half gives you plenty of range of motion without any tripping hazards - and I know your regular combat boots also have heels on them."

She smirked. "So - grimm hunting? I don't have my usual gear."

He tsked. "You let _me_ pack the car and I said I'd pack our 'usual gear'." His smile grew as he added, "Your mom thought it was code for condoms."

Coco sighed, only resisting the urge to cover her face with her hand because she was driving. "She should have known the condoms went into my clutch," she muttered, making Fox laugh.

The rest of the car ride was made in comfortable silence. There were fewer and fewer cars and streetlights as they approached the edge of town until Coco took a final turn onto an unlit gravel road. She stopped about half a mile up it, killing the engine and popping the trunk.

She turned to Fox with a grin. "Shall we?"


	2. Helpless

AN: Fox/Velvet - originally posted to my Tumblr ( MaryKay91)

* * *

"Velvet? Is everything okay?"

Fox was standing close to her, one hand on her arm, catching her before she slipped out of the room to join their partners in the lounge for a movie night.

 _Yes_ , she wanted to say, but her voice failed her. It was ridiculous she was this upset over missing prom - she didn't even have a date lined up, just a ridiculous crush on her teammate who had promised her a dance.

But that single promise had meant she had been looking forward to the dance for weeks.

Coco had even helped her pick out a dress that both looked good and was extra soft to the touch. She hadn't said anything when Velvet had insisted on something that was soft, just gave a knowing smile.

"Just… sad we missed the dance," she finally settled on.

He tilted his head to one side. "I hope your date understood why you didn't make it."

He sounded so concerned and she couldn't help but tell the truth. "I didn't have a date," she said, scuffing her foot against the ground. "You're the only person who's ever asked me to dance with them."

His brow furrowed. "You've never danced with _anyone_?"

"Not - " _romantically_ , she thought, but didn't want to add aloud. "Just my father, to teach me - and that was a while ago. I don't know how much I remember."

His hand slipped down Velvet's arm to take her hand. "That won't do," he said, pulling her into the center of the dorm room. She stumbled slightly, but Fox caught her easily, wrapping a hand around her waist. "Just follow my lead," he murmured.

Her face flushed and one ear fell back as she realized how close Fox was - even if he was maintaining a respectful distance between them. Velvet's steps weren't nearly as graceful as his, but she resisted the urge to cheat and use her semblance to help, instead focusing on not stepping on his toes.

It was all wrong: rather than formal wear, they were in their battle dress; the only music was the soft tune that Fox was humming and they kept having to dodge furniture.

Yet, it was perfect.

Velvet tentatively closed some of the distance between them until they were pressed up against one another as they danced.

Their steps slowed until they came to a stop in the middle of the dorm room. "How was that?" Fox's voice was a low whisper that made her ears twitch.

"I - I might want to try again, make sure I got the steps down," Velvet said, cheeks burning.

Fox smiled brightly. "We could even try something a little different, if you'd like."

"Sure," she said, grateful for the excuse to stay in his arms.

He let go of her hand, moving it to go around his waist, then cupped her cheek with his newly freed hand. "So that was a waltz, what we did." She nodded. "This," he continued, leaning in until their lips were only a fraction of an inch apart. "This is a kiss."

Velvet melted into his arms when their lips met in a sweet, chaste kiss.

When they broke apart again, Fox was blushing. "How was that?"

"I might want to try again," Velvet replied, feeling much more confident than before.

"That could be arranged." Fox pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "Again and again and again…" he whispered as he made good on that promise - again and again and again.


	3. Take a Break

CFVY Shop post-volume 3. Originally posted to my Tumblr (MaryKay91)

* * *

Three weeks after the Fall of Beacon, CFVY was forcibly removed from Vale City.

It had been a grueling three weeks of long nights and even longer days - helping with the evacuation and cleanup, trying to reestablish defenses around the outer wall of the city and clearing out any remaining grimm in the area.

They hadn't had an uninterrupted night's sleep in that entire time and their days were filled with nearly-constant battles.

Goodwitch had cornered Coco at the beginning of week four, asking if they had taken a break yet.

"No, but - "

"The rest of that sentence had better be 'we're leaving in an hour to go rest.'" Almost two full years at Beacon had taught her that there was no room for argument when Goodwitch took that tone.

She ducked her head. "Yes ma'am. We'll be back, though." There was no force on the planet that would remove them from Vale City permanently.

"If I see you back in Vale City before a week has passed, I'll send you right back." The swish of her riding crop righting a lamppost that had been threatening to fall punctuated the point and implied exactly how she would remove them. "However, after that point your help would be appreciated."

"Of course, professor," she said with a jaunty salute.

The rest of her team was less than thrilled to hear they'd been put on mandatory leave, however Coco was inclined to agree with Goodwitch on this one. They were all exhausted and their auras were no longer replenishing overnight. Thankfully, the other three were ultimately too tired to argue with Coco.

So she herded them to the next town over, insisting that Goodwitch was right and they needed a break.

She booked a room in the inn, handing over her credit card with "just - give us your room with the biggest bed, please" and gestured to Yatsuhashi.

"Of course. Just one bed?" the desk attendant confirmed.

"As long as we'll all fit."

"The honeymoon suite should work, Ms. Adel, if there are no objections."

She smiled and shook her head. It'd be perfect. "Can we get extra towels and robes from you?"

She disappeared for a moment and came back with an armload of towels and keys for everyone.

They trudged upstairs to where their room was. The bed was plenty spacious, but the shower left a lot to be desired, forcing them to take one individually.

As they cleaned, they left their battle dress laying about the room to air out before they could go into town the next day and get more gear in preparation of going back to Vale City.

Coco used her time waiting on the shower wisely, making notes of gear they'd need. Velvet was in desperate need of a blacksmith who would let her restock on weapon photos and they had all run out of dust half a week ago - to say nothing of the basic necessities they were lacking because of everything they lost when Beacon fell.

"Coco - your turn," Velvet said, drawing her attention back to the room.

The shower was luxurious - there seemed to be no end to the hot water. However, it in no way compared to the view when she came out:

Her three lovers were all curled up in bed under the covers. Fox and Velvet were holding one another, already sound asleep, and Yatsuhashi's arm was wrapped loosely around them. There was just enough room for her to squeeze in with them. Yatsu smiled when she came out, pressing a kiss to her forehead when she crawled into bed with them after turning the last light out.

Tomorrow was looming - as was the daunting task of rebuilding Beacon and Vale City.

But for now she got to hold her lovers close and pretend tomorrow wouldn't come.


	4. The Story of Our Fight (Reprise)

AN: This is a rewrite of the sparring match in Chapter 2 of _A Fresh Cup of Coffee_ from Fox's POV.

* * *

Fox bounced on the balls of his feet, anxious to start the match. He didn't _want_ to spar with Velvet. She was injured - none of them wanted to right now - but had practically begged for the chance, and so Coco had caved.

His partner didn't _need_ to warn him to be careful - to go easy on Velvet - but he could hear the warning in her voice as she told Velvet to not go easy on him.

He let his semblance open up so he could feel Velvet across the ring. She'd been really cagey about her weapon when they were talking about it the day before, so he had no idea what to expect. That was fine by him - he wanted more practice going into combat situations with little information.

"Begin!"

Step one would be to close distance - Coco would give him hell if he shot Velvet from afar.

There was an almost imperceptible shift in Velvet's aura as her semblance activated - growing and changing slightly to better mirror Coco's, not that it was that dissimilar to begin with. He filed that piece of information away for later, intending to ask -

The sound of his partner's gun spinning up made him stumble, thoroughly derailing his train of thought.

Years of training with Coco had him moving without needing to think - dodging the hail of bullets as he yelled at her. "No fair, partner! Give a man warning before you loan out your weapon."

Her laughter made him smile, but the denial of his accusations made him curious. There was no mistaking the sound for anything _but_ her weapon.

It was something to figure out later, first he would need to close distance, force Velvet to do something else.

Her aura shifted again and he stopped as it grew larger, more solid. That felt like -

He ducked just in time to avoid a blow from Yatsuhashi's sword, cursing under his breath as he got in closer and managed a couple of blows - forgetting to hold back, but not caring because he was going to be lucky to get in more than that.

Another shift - an aura he didn't recognize. When his own weapons got turned against him, he realized he was feeling his own.

He pieced together what was going on just in time for Velvet to get him pinned to the mats.

The pictures - it had to do with the pictures he was sure of it.

Her aura shifted back to normal and he relaxed as their partners came over to congratulate them. He couldn't be upset - her weapon was brilliant.

Maybe she'd be up for a rematch once she'd healed.

The thought made him grin - he was looking forward to it.


End file.
